


Forgiveness

by Teczesgirl



Series: Lily and her cypher [2]
Category: Anthem (Video Game)
Genre: Asexual Character, Friendship, Gen, Haluk is a protective dad/uncle, Post-Game, a bit angsty, faye is supportive, freelancer goes too far from fort tarsis and gets into trouble, lots of feelings, owen feels bad and tries to help, spoilers for anthem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-15 17:38:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18077951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teczesgirl/pseuds/Teczesgirl
Summary: Despite all he's done, it's not the same without Owen. He was Lily's best friend, and she missed him. But he was gone, and though she tried to accept it, the only thing that would make her feel better would be to just find the nearest camp of whatever decided to shoot at her today and wipe it off the map.





	Forgiveness

Despite all he's done, it's not the same without Owen. He was Lily's best friend, and she missed him. But he was gone, and though she tried to accept it, the only thing that would make her feel better would be to just find the nearest camp of whatever decided to shoot at her today and wipe it off the map. She was sure that would at least take her mind off of it all.

It had been a couple weeks since she, Haluk, and Faye had defeated the Monitor and silenced the heart of rage. Life had gone on as normal as it could, now with more contracts, more challenges, and more respect for freelancers in general. While everyone was happy, it sometimes took Lily more effort than normal to feel good about this. She had been fine with Faye being her cypher, since it was nice to have a friend always talking to Lily as opposed to some random cypher she'd have to get used to. But it still was not the same.

Lily prepared to get in her interceptor javelin when she felt someone stop her. It was Haluk, looking slightly worried. "I know that look. You look like you're about ready to just about explode." 

He wasn't wrong. Lily was chaotic inside, though didn't show it too obviously. "Yeah, just gonna let off some steam." She gave him her most convincing smile, though the fire in her eyes would not match. Haluk just sighed, knowing that letting off steam would be best now, rather than letting it boil over later. "Just, don't go too crazy. Come back safe."

Lily gave him a nod before slipping into her javelin and flying off. 

———————

During her almost rampage-like expedition, Lily had taken down two Scar attacks, three Dominion attacks, and shot more scorpion eggs than she cared to count. Nothing was safe, especially not the one elemental dominion lancer than tried to flee past the normal range that lancers would go. But she wouldn’t let this one slip past. 

_To hell with this stupid map! I’ll go wherever I want!_ Lily thought as she flew after the straggler. She had thrown out all caution and common sense about an hour ago. She could hear Faye trying to tell to come back, but it became a blur that Lily couldn’t care less about. The moment she landed, she realized her mistake. More dominion, and that’s also when she realized that her armor couldn’t take much more. 

The drop she followed the enemy from was too high to fly up without overheating. But in her fear, she tried desperately to fly back. But her armor didn’t even get to overheat before the dominion solders shot her down. 

As she fell, she could feel herself hit rocks on the ledges, adding to the pain. When she finally hit the ground, she couldn’t move, and everything was going dim. The last thing she’s heard was the sound of gunfire, but different from the dominion guns. 

———————

Everything was calm when Lily awoke. Quiet aside from the sounds of the trees blowing in the light breeze and the sound of birds. It was so calm, in face, that it took her a few minutes to realize what had happened. Remembering that the last thing she was in was danger, Lily bolted up, but winced in pain as her side felt as if it was just stabbed. 

She went to hold it, realizing that there was a bandage there around her waist, covering where the pain was and where she assumed a wound was. After that, she noticed the bandage on her arm and the makeshift splint around her leg. She wondered if it was broken, but she didn't think it was. It didn't feel broken. 

She decided to take a quick look around. Since she wasn't dead, she could only assume that she was saved by an ally, perhaps another freelancer. She was laying on a bed made of cloth and leaves, with more cloth over her as a sort of blanket. She was in a makeshift shelter, not one built to last, but enough to stay steady for a short time. Branches and leaves made a sort of roof over her. She looked to the sides to see if anything looked familiar. Just some trees, rocks and...

The Javelin of Dawn was standing with it's back to her. She froze, thinking her own heart might stop too. There it was, just standing there, but empty. The back hatch was open, but no one inside. She looked around frantically to see if _he_ was there. Her emotions of shock, fear, anger, and something else that was nowhere near as prominent were racing all around her head. And that's when she heard the rustling behind her. On the other side of the tree she was partially up against. And then, the voice came.

It was spoken in a whisper, as if not to wake her if she was not awake yet. "Hey, are you up?" She couldn't decide if she wanted to respond with joy or with anger. Or to not respond at all. Instead, she just spoke with as little emotion as she could manage. Which was hard to manage. "What are you doing here?" She heard Owen respond with a little chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I deserve that."

It sounded like he was about to move to her side, but stopped mid way. "I really don't want to find out if you're winding up to knock me in the face the moment I show it." He would be right, if she had enough strength in her arm to do so. Instead, she asked again. "What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving to go far away from here." There was a sort of guilty silence that fell between them. But after a moment, he answered. "I don't really want to leave here. But I can't really go back." His normally cheery voice was replaced with one of guilt and sadness. Lily felt bad for him almost immediately. Though she'd never show it, but those emotions were still there.

She tried to move to his side, but the pain kept jabbing at her so she couldn't move far. Owen seemed to hear her because he closed the gap between them, letting her lean on him for support. She looked up and remembered his eyes. Once so full of sunshine and joy, now scarred and blank. But they still tried to show emotions. 

But knowing he was blind made her wonder why he was looking at her, but looked away when she saw him. Could-... could he see? She wondered for a moment. But couldn't think of any way that sight would be possible for him at this point. 

Lily sat up and just sat next to Owen, trying to see if much had changed. He didn't seem too roughed up, aside from the eyes. Same clothes as when he had left, surprisingly not filthy, so he probably washed them out or something. When she looked up at his face again to try and face the eyes head on, she seemed to meet them, staring as if he actually saw her. She just had to ask at this point. "You can't see... can you?" She felt like it was a stupid question to ask, but it was bothering her.

He seemed a little surprised by the question, but not in a bad way. "Well, yes and no. I'll explain later. For now, we should get to safety. You wait here, I'll be right back." He hopped up, slowing down every few moments to clap or snap his fingers. This was really confusing, but she'd ask later. For now, so many things were rushing through her head. 

She watched Owen get back in the Javelin of Dawn, bringing up some painful memories. She didn't even realize anything that was happening until she felt herself being scooped up in one giant, metal arm. 

"Sorry, your Javelin's kinda busted and judging on how it sounds, I don't trust it not to explode if it's activated." Owen kept the helmet down around his eyes, shielding them from her in what felt like shame. That's when she noticed that the arm of the Javelin what was not being used to hold her was being used to hold onto her own javelin. 

She winced a little when he picked her up, but didn't let him know. Lily wanted answers, and maybe even her friend, back. And in order to do that, she'd have to trust him again, which may not be that hard.

\--------------

They arrived at what looked to be a tree house, made on top of several trees, with scrap metal, other branches, and whatever else was sturdy enough to hold it up. It was decently camouflaged and seemed comfortable enough to live in for a longer time than the shelter they were just at. 

Owen, still like Lily and her Javelin still in his arms, walked over to a small cave, with a back that was visible from the entrance and had a drape of vines over it to hide it. Once inside, he set down the damaged Javelin gently as to not damage it anymore. Then, he locked his own suit's arm in place so once he got out, she wouldn't fall. 

He slipped back out of the suit with ease before walking around to Lily, arms up as if offering to carry her. "I'm fine." She lied, trying not to seem weak. He saw right through it. "No, you're not. Your right leg has a fracture and walking on it would not be a good idea." He was right.

She rolled out of the arm of the legendary Javelin and into Owen's, who seemed to stagger a little before regaining his balance and heading out of the cave. Then, he made a bit of a particular request. "Well, since my hands are a little full, would you mind snapping your fingers?" 

Lily raised an eyebrow in confusion, but Owen quickly explained. "I can seem to use a sort of echolocation to make my way around. I have no idea how, but my best guess is the Anthem has something to do with this."

Of course it did. The Anthem did everything. 

Lily just nodded and started snapping the fingers on her uninjured hand, which was less painful that trying with the other. Owen seemed to be pretty good at this echolocation thing, avoiding trees, rocks, and other hazards that may cause him to trip if he did not know they were there. 

The walk from the cave to the tree house was short, but once they made it, it was tricky getting Lily up into it, since the ladder worked best of her legs were both working. Eventually, she used one foot to bounce on and climb up into the structure. The inside was sparse, with only the essentials inside like a bed and materials used to make weapons to hunt with and the weapons themselves. As she was looking around, Owen had followed her up. "This is where I live, for now, at least." He helped her up onto a seat and inspected her wounds. That made her remember. 

"So, did you mean you can see with echolocation but can't see normally, or is there something else?" He stopped for a moment before replying. "The whole echo thing is part of it, yeah, but I noticed something else." He gently let down her arm, which he had previously been checking. "I know you've gone into the heart of rage by now, since it's calmer. But I want to know if you got close to the Anthem itself. Because I can actually see you." 

It took her a moment to think about what this meant. Lily knew she probably got close when she shut off the Monitor's machine or when Faye almost fell under its control. But she had no idea that it would have a lasting effect. "Do you mean like, see me see me? Like how you would before."

There was another pause and Owen just looked at the ground. "I guess? I don't know. This was a stupid idea." He rested his head in his hands, seemingly defeated. Lily sort of got what he was talking about, but didn't want to assume fully. "What do you mean? Saving me? I'd probably be another lost name if you hadn't helped." 

"No, I should have just flown you back up and let someone more qualified help you." It hurt to hear that guilt in his words. It wasn't healthy.

Gently, Lily wrapped a careful arm around him, trying to comfort him like she used to when she would come back from a mission to see Owen worrying like crazy, only to calm down again once she assured him that she was fine. Back in simpler times. It seemed to still work, though, as he began relaxing again. 

"I'm fine, I promise. Now, get some rest. Even with all those scars, I can still see the shadows under your eyes." There was little protest from Owen, as he laid down on her lap and just seemed to drift off. Her anger had died down a lot, mostly turning into worry, but also a light happiness at seeing Owen again, not as a traitor, but as a friend. 

Lily took a look at her bandages and shrugged. She could take care of them later. For now, she wanted rest as well. In this calm, quiet environment.

\--------------------

When Lily awoke, she was on the little makeshift bed with new clean bandages on her. The sun shone through some small holes in the walls. It was hard to tell if it was setting or rising. There was less jabbing pain in her side, but she felt more sore than before. She looked around, seeming to be alone. The splint on her leg was gone and she felt it. It was not broken, thankfully. 

She got up and tried to walk. It was painful, as expected, but manageable. She took this time to actually look around the tree house. Not much else that she hadn't noticed before, but there was another latter that lead up. Out of curiosity, she climbed up, taking her time so she didn't actually break anything. 

At the top was the roof, as expected. But also a little sitting area, where Owen sat. From what Lily could see, he was either meditating or sleeping upright. Knowing him, it could be either or the two. As she got closer, he remained still until she took a seat next to him. She still couldn't tell if he was asleep or not.

She sat with him, waiting a while to say anything. She thought it best to enjoy the peace first before asking serious questions. After about 30 minutes, Lily knew two things. First, that sun was rising. Second, Owen was definitely asleep.

She thought it might be rude to just wake him up, but after a few more minutes, she got impatient. 

She placed a hand on his head so she could wake him up. But the moment her hand reached his head, he practically slumped over, losing the illusion of balance. This, however, did cause him to wake up with a start.

Owen shot upright, causing Lily to remove her hand reflexively. He looked around, a little panicked, until he saw Lily again. He sighed in relief. "Don't sneak up on me like that. You know I can't see you coming." She was about to comment on what he told her previously, but kept it to herself for the moment. Even in this state, he could still try and make a joke about it.

"I don't know if I should laugh at that or not." She didn't feel uncomfortable about it, but it may have been a bit too soon to laugh at such a morbid joke. He just waved it off. "It's fine, I've kinda gotten used to this, now. It's not exactly good, but not exactly the end of the world." He sat back, leaning on his hands. It didn't seem like he would start the conversation, so Lily took it into her own hands.

"So, do you just, live out here now? I know you said you kinda missed Fort Tarsis, but why live all the way out here?" She knew why he couldn't just return to the fort. The one guarantee was that the moment Owen got within 100 feet of Haluk, he'd lose it. Haluk probably wouldn't kill him. _Probably_. 

"Because nothing else would feel like home. And I know I'm not welcomed back there. So, I went halfway. Close enough to feel some familiarity, but far enough away to stay hidden. Well, until you came along. What were you doing anyway?"

Lily realized the overall reason she came out here because of Owen. She took a minute to think of a good answer. "Well, I guess it's because I missed having you around. I was... not dealing with letting it go in a good way. So, I came out here to try and get it out physically. I was mad, but at nothing in particular. To put it simply, I guess I did miss having your voice in my ear, after all." She recalled what Owen had said to her a few weeks ago, before she last saw him. Owen seemed to remember too, looking both amused and pained at remembering what had just happened not to long beforehand.

As a sort of habit he picked up, he felt the scarred skin under his eyes. It wasn't really intentional, but it did catch Lily's attention. "Yesterday, you said you can see me, even though you're kinda... well, what did you mean by that?" 

Her question brought Owen back to attention, realizing he still had to explain what he thought was going on. "Well, it's like... the world around me is dark. And I can sort of see it by just using sounds and picturing it in my head. But with you... it's like... I don't know. It's like the darkness doesn't get you. I can _see_ you and an outline of what's around you. It's hard to explain without sounding weird." He laughed to himself a little, trying to play off how awkward he felt trying to explain something he hadn't even thought about putting into words. But Lily understood enough, wrapping her good arm around him to comfort him again. 

Owen could feel tears threaten to form in his eyes. He didn't even thing he could cry anymore, his eyes being as damaged as they were. But still, there they were. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to get closer, not wanting to let go again. 

As his mind tumbled with emotions, a thought resurfaced that had previously been buried about a year and a half ago. He wanted to kiss her. It hadn't crossed his mind in months, but it hit as hard as it had the first time. He tried to push it away, thinking _how could I?! I know she's ace! If I do something that stupid, she'll probably want me gone forever!_

Lily could feel something was wrong. He rarely shook unless he was afraid or fighting something. And with no hostile forces anywhere near them, she could only assume he was fighting himself. She rested a hand on the top of his head and started caressing his short hair, effectively calming him back down. "I don't know what's going on, but I know you, and I know something is wrong. You don't have to talk about it, but I am here for you now. And that won't change, at least until I'm all healed up." He nodded and stopped shaking so much.

"By the way, where did you get the medical supplies? No freelancers come down here." Owen sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Oh, you would not believe the medical supplies the enemies have down here. Especially the Dominion."

Lily just laughed, never realizing that was a possibility. 

Her laugh made Owen smile. This time, his eyes could follow the rest of his face. And she noticed. "I think I missed your smile the most, more than the voice." Owen would have felt a little hurt at the comment, if he wasn't so happy. He really didn't want her to leave, at least just yet. He just found his best friend again. And the world didn't seem so dark anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> I personally don't think the freelancer wants romantic/sexual relationships and that's why there's no romance system in Anthem. But thanks for reading to the end!
> 
> And if people want, I'll add a chapter 2.


End file.
